Chapter 37

When Gu An’an hurriedly boarded the plane, it was already 2:43 a.m.
After a seven-hour flight, she landed in Nan Cheng the next morning. Though she managed to nap a little on the plane, that kind of light, restless dozing wasn’t real rest. By the time she arrived at the airport, her mind was foggy and her steps unsteady.
Xie Jinxing had specially arranged for Lily to pick her up with a small team.
“BOSS is busy. I’ll take you to eat something first, then we’ll head to the hotel.” Lily’s tone was as clipped and mechanical as ever, so precise it nearly smelled like artificial intelligence.
“Okay,” Gu An’an nodded.
She was both starving and exhausted, and her mind kept spinning around one thing: how on earth did Su Ruan know exactly where to show up beside Xie Jinxing last night? She wasn’t some GPS spirit, how could it be such a coincidence?
It was as if she’d known in advance where he’d be and had camped outside his door waiting.
It didn’t make sense. Even forced plot devices shouldn’t be that blatant. Based on her years of binging overbearing-CEO novels, Gu An’an was sure Su Ruan had to have some kind of built-in cheat.
Either she’d been reborn and still had her past-life memories, or she had a system plug-in feeding her clues. There was no way this was just “fate.”
Because if it really were fate, Xie Jinxing wouldn’t be dealing with so many ridiculous twists. The male lead dissing the heroine’s IQ by name? The heroine repeatedly triggering his long-term “idiocy intolerance disorder”? What kind of author would write such madness?
At this rate, either the story would collapse, or everyone in it would go insane. Gu An’an decided she needed to start preparing for contingencies early.
When Lily took her suitcase, she took the opportunity to smooth down Gu An’an’s hair.
Maybe she’d slept too wildly on the plane, but the queen of thick hair now looked like a scruffy little puppy. As someone traumatized into perfectionism by years of working for an obsessive-compulsive boss, Lily’s professional ethics simply didn’t allow her to let the “maneki-neko” assistant wander around with such an unkempt look.
Scientifically speaking, it would attract bad luck.
So, she smoothed it all down.
Feeling a few pats on her head, Gu An’an blinked at her in confusion. “?”
“There was lint on your head.”
Gu An’an scratched her hair, immediately messing up Lily’s work again. “Huh? What lint?”
Lily hesitated, then deadpanned, “Hair lint.”
Gu An’an: “…”
Fine. Excellent. She gave her a thumbs-up.
The local food in Nan Cheng was pretty great.
As a city bordering three different regions, it had a unique cultural blend. Its cuisine was exotic yet still suited to Huaguo taste buds, a perfect balance.
Gu An’an ate to her heart’s content under Lily’s guidance, then followed her to the hotel to rest.
But apparently, in the chaos of last night, the BOSS had forgotten to arrange her lodging. With no clear instructions from Xie Jinxing, and remembering the last time she made assumptions, Lily didn’t dare to take liberties. She brought Gu An’an to the hotel lobby and called Special Assistant Li.
At that moment, Li was with Xie Jinxing, having tea with the city planning officials.
He was Xie’s right-hand man, basically his modern-day Grand Chamberlain. A graduate-school junior who’d followed him ever since, Li handled both public and private affairs.
When the call came, Li hesitated. The matter wasn’t major, just accommodation, but after learning from experience, he leaned in to whisper the question directly to the BOSS.
Xie Jinxing paused mid-discussion about transit hubs, then said lightly, “Have her stay in my side bedroom.”
Li: “?”
He stared, stunned. “??”
Though silent, his bespectacled expression screamed: Are you drunk, Boss? There are plenty of rooms, so why let her stay in your suite? Have you checked with your family about this, Uncle?
Of course, he didn’t say that out loud.
But Xie Jinxing understood perfectly well what his occasionally-insubordinate junior was thinking.
Still, it was too absurd to explain, if he did, Li would probably think he’d gone insane.
He simply said, “Do as I said.”
“Yes, BOSS.”
Li, dazed, relayed the instruction to Lily.
Lily turned to look at Gu An’an with the wary curiosity one might reserve for a rare specimen.
Gu An’an blinked sleepily back at her.
“…”
Lily covered her forehead. No matter how she looked at it, this girl resembled a clueless little lamb walking straight into the wolf’s den. Heart aching, the ever-law-abiding legal assistant opened the door to Xie Jinxing’s presidential suite.
The suite, though technically in a hotel, looked more like a luxurious private penthouse, master and guest bedrooms, a study, kitchen, and entertainment space. If not for knowing it was the hotel’s top floor, one would think it was a secret residence.
Lily led the way, and Gu An’an followed trustingly, no questions asked.
This girl really did look dumber by the minute.
Before leaving, Lily couldn’t help but give a piece of advice: “Make sure to lock your door before sleeping. Statistically, most assaults against women are committed by men they know. Stay alert. And if anything happens, call me.”
Ah yes, a law-abiding attorney, even when betraying her boss, she did it righteously.
Gu An’an: “???”
She was sleep-deprived, not brain-dead. She understood perfectly well.
Though she couldn’t explain the bizarre situation without exposing Xie Jinxing’s privacy, she decided to give a simple reassurance, by stabbing him in the back.
“Don’t worry, sister Lily. It’s fine. My uncle’s gay.”
And fearing she might get in trouble for spreading it, she quickly added, “That’s what Lu Xingyu said.”
Lily: “……”
Lily: “！！！！！！！！！！！！！！”
Gu An’an dropped the bomb and promptly went to sleep, ignoring the psychological trauma she’d just inflicted on the ice-cold AI goddess.
…
She was woken again by the shrill sound of an alarm blaring in her ears.
Bolting upright, she saw that Xie Jinxing’s heart rate monitor had spiked again, to a level that practically screamed cardiac arrest imminent. It refreshed several times, climbing dangerously close to 200 bpm. One more jump and she’d be making funeral arrangements.
Outside, night had fallen. It was just past seven.
Grabbing her phone, Gu An’an bolted out of the room.
She’d kept the location tracking app on as instructed by the domineering CEO himself. Running downstairs, she called Lily, urgently demanding a car.
Lily was still reviewing city contract clauses with her team, checking for loopholes. When she heard Gu An’an’s frantic tone, she didn’t hesitate, dropped everything and followed.
As soon as Gu An’an got in the car, she kept sending voice messages to Xie Jinxing.
No response. His smartwatch was either muted or malfunctioning. The call connected, but no sound came through. Sweating bullets, she urged the driver to go faster.
The driver, a retired military man temporarily assigned to Xie Jinxing, understood the gravity immediately. He hit the gas like they were in a Fast & Furious remake.
The location led to Nan Cheng’s wealthy district, about fifty minutes away even at city speed limits. He made it in thirty.
“Driving’s what I do best,” he said proudly. “Second to none.”
Gu An’an gave him a five-star rating on the spot before leaping out of the car and sprinting toward the red dot on her screen.
Say what you will, her athletic stamina was insane. If she weren’t too old for it, she could’ve gone pro.
Lily, tottering behind in heels, could only watch the girl vanish like a fired arrow. Is she part zebra? she thought despairingly.
Following the GPS, Gu An’an arrived at what looked like a boutique museum.
At first, she didn’t recognize the designer’s name at the entrance, but the moment she stepped in and saw the displayed gowns, her scalp went numb.
Three floors. The second clearly marked as VIP only, the third likely SVIP.
Even just on the first floor, she recognized several dresses from red-carpet photos, pieces worn by A-list actresses.
She’d once screamed with other fans online about how gorgeous they were, then quietly complained that so little fabric couldn’t possibly cost that much.
Not even the purchase price, the rental fees were in the tens of thousands. It was the kind of place where she was afraid to even breathe on anything.
And yet… Xie Jinxing’s location marker was right here.
In a luxury boutique selling custom women’s gowns.
For over a minute after she entered, no one approached. Finally, a stylish, elegant clerk came over.
“May I help you?”
“I’m looking for someone.”
“Someone?” The clerk smiled politely. “Who?”
“Xie Jinxing.”
The clerk froze, then her expression cooled. “I’m sorry, you’ve got the wrong place.”
Clearly, she’d been briefed. She knew who Xie Jinxing was, and she’d instantly classified Gu An’an as some delusional gold-digger chasing a rich man.
“His location’s here,” Gu An’an said anxiously, losing patience. “It’s an emergency! Don’t lie to me!”
The clerk wasn’t just disbelieving now, she looked alarmed. She clearly thought Gu An’an was a crazed sasaeng fan.
Apologies, but she’d seen news about stalker fans before, violent incidents even. That such a low-key man had one was shocking…but given his looks, it also kind of made sense.
“I’m sorry, miss, there’s really no one by that name.”
Gu An’an didn’t care anymore. She hadn’t flown seven hours overnight just to stand here and argue, she was here to save her uncle’s chastity!
With how cursed Su Ruan was, forty minutes’ delay might mean Xie Jinxing already had a child!
Ignoring the clerk’s cry for security, Gu An’an barreled ahead like a wild horse.
No sign of him on the first floor.
Despite shouts of “Only million-tier members allowed upstairs!” she charged up to the second where she was immediately met by a towering security guard.
The sight almost made her weep. Ten thousand yuan a month was not easy money.
Seeing the floor empty, she dashed to the third.
Hearing the commotion, the guards mobilized, thinking she was some kind of deranged female stalker. They lunged after her like hunters chasing a wild boar.
Gu An’an swore under her breath. When this was over, she was demanding a bonus.
Thank heavens the store wasn’t tall, though packed with flashy decorative setups.
Weaving through the display columns, she finally caught sight of him, her Xie Jinxing, standing tall and immaculate, one arm around the waist of a petite, under-160cm, washboard-shaped girl, pointing at gowns with that same calm, dignified air.
, And thus, the disaster began.
(Time rewinds to one hour earlier…)
After wrapping up a meeting with the transportation bureau, Xie Jinxing received a call from Nan Cheng’s mayor himself, personally inviting him to a reception dinner at 8 p.m. at the International Trade Building. It would be a chance to meet key local business and government figures before the Xie Corporation’s expansion in the region.
Of course, he accepted.
Afterward, he joined his team for lunch at a specialty restaurant. And there, as if drawn by fate, or some malicious author, Su Ruan appeared again.
Dressed in local ethnic attire, silver headdress glinting, colorful patterns clashing vibrantly yet somehow enhancing her innocent, pure demeanor, she looked like a shy little rabbit trailing behind the other servers.
Her excuse? Supporting her sick mother, working two jobs, barely scraping by.
The moment she entered, the room fell silent.
Even without being the most beautiful, she carried an aura that demanded attention. Every eye turned to her, including those of Xie Jinxing’s entire team.
He froze.
For a long moment, he stared, as though studying some rare, inexplicable specimen. Then, abruptly, he spoke, calling her name.
She turned at once, silver tassels swinging gently like rain.
He heard his own voice, uncharacteristically soft, asking if she felt unwell.
No one in the room dared breathe.
His subordinates’ eyes screamed: BOSS, are you possessed? You’re showing concern? For a stranger?
He felt it too, how bizarrely gentle his tone was, how oddly tender his focus.
But Su Ruan looked thrilled.
Her lips trembled as she murmured that she hadn’t eaten all day, felt a little hypoglycemic, and then, eyes darting nervously at her coworkers outside, apologized softly:
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t complain during work. I’m usually very optimistic. No matter what life teaches me, I face it bravely. Please pretend you didn’t hear that, Mr. Xie. If my supervisor finds out, she’ll scold me for being weak…”
Her shy voice, the small, bashful smiles, it was textbook “adorable vulnerability.”
The air grew thick with something unspeakable.
Xie Jinxing had no idea how that minute passed.
He only knew that he sat perfectly still, like a marble statue, and then, hearing his own voice again, said, “If you’re hungry, eat. Sit down.”
“?” Su Ruan blinked, lips parting in stunned disbelief.
And Xie Jinxing…actually chuckled.
Li the assistant: “……”
Xie Corporation’s entire secretary team: “……”
Help!! The boss has been possessed by some demon from a trashy CEO romance group chat!!
For a second, every executive in the room felt their souls shatter.
The private box fell dead silent, as if some invisible hand had sucked out all the air. The secretary team all kept their heads down, terrified to look up, if they saw something they shouldn’t, the boss might “silence” them later once he came to his senses.
Xie Jinxing waved the others away, leaving only Su Ruan for a “gentle yet domineering” dinner together.
Su Ruan hesitated. “That’s…not really appropriate, is it?”
“Would you rather starve yourself into the hospital? Trading your health for a paycheck doesn’t sound like a smart deal.”
And with that, she obediently sat down.
Inside the box were only Xie Jinxing, Assistant Li, and Secretaries Yang and Wang. Their respective teams were in other rooms. Li sat nearest to the door, while the other two were still standing, ready to report on the preparations for tonight’s banquet.
Su Ruan, without a hint of guilt, sat right next to Xie Jinxing’s right hand.
She chatted away like a carefree little girl, chirping about her day at work. Then, with a little pout and a soft whine, she complained about her frustrations and coworkers, only to glance up regretfully, worried she was gossiping too much. When she caught his eyes, she blushed shyly…
“…”
A five-figure meal, Xie Jinxing didn’t take a single bite. The girl across from him ate it all.
She said she wasn’t hungry, yet her chopsticks kept picking only the most expensive dishes.
And him? Like a fool with water in his brain, he just sat there watching her eat.
His reason hung by a thread as he stared coldly at his own puppet-like body, playing the perfect male lead. In his mind, he was begging Gu An’an to hurry before his stomach ulcer acted up again.
Mid-meal, Su Ruan paused and looked at him, clearly torn about something.
“What’s wrong?” he heard himself ask.
She hesitated for ten seconds, then tears suddenly welled up and streamed down her face.
She sobbed uncontrollably, wiping her eyes while apologizing through hiccups: “I’m sorry, Mr. Xie, I know it’s rude and weird of me, but I just feel so sad. Why did you answer Gu An’an’s call so late at night? Are you two together? I know I shouldn’t ask, but, are you dating?”
Xie Jinxing stayed silent, and Su Ruan kept crying harder, like a betrayed wife.
“I’m not trying to pry into your private life… I just-I just envy her. That she has someone as good as you beside her…” Her voice trembled. “I’m not like her, so brave, so outgoing. I have no friends. I don’t fit in. And when I see how close you are with her, I just…”
“No. We’re not dating.”
He finally spoke, sounding tired. “So, you’re jealous? You like me?”
Her crying stopped dead.
Her cheeks flushed red like spilled vermilion ink. She shook her head furiously, stammering denials, “No, no, I don’t!”, but her expression gave her away completely.
Xie Jinxing chuckled softly. “She’s family. You don’t need to envy her.”
Then, smiling faintly, he asked, “You’re free tonight, right? Would you do me the honor of being my date?”
…
And that was how this whole disaster started.
He invited Su Ruan to be his companion for an important banquet and personally brought her to pick out a gown.
To the secretary team, this was spiritual devastation.
Their boss, who divided women into “useful” and “useless,” was now willingly spending a fortune on a seemingly airheaded waitress, for nothing but her indecisiveness over which dress to pick. Sure, it was pocket change for him, but the behavior itself was completely unlike him.
He didn’t even tell security to throw her out!!
They’d been sitting in mortified silence for an hour when Gu An’an arrived, just in time to see Su Ruan biting her lip dramatically.
And Gu An’an, too stunned to speak, slowly pulled out her phone.
Su Ruan, feeling morally violated by the extravagant shopping spree, said indignantly, “Mr. Xie, what are you doing? Yes, I’ve never seen so many beautiful dresses, but I don’t want them all! Are you pitying me?”
“I’m not that kind of woman! I’m not like those who sell their bodies for money! I like you because you’re gentle!” she declared, stomping one tiny foot like a cute, furious kitten. “I don’t want your charity! What will people think of me? You’re insulting my dignity!”
The secretary team blinked. Sell her body?? There weren’t even women near their boss, the only females around him were AI assistants!
But their boss only said, coolly: “Wrap them all up.”
Gu An’an calmly put her phone away.
She couldn’t take it anymore. Watching the show was one thing, but letting the boss suffer financial loss? Absolutely not.
So she charged forward, too fast.
Her foot slammed right into the boss’s long leg.
The kick left a perfect size-35 shoe print on his tailored trousers.
And because she’d sprinted too hard, she spun around in place, knocking into Su Ruan, who lost her balance, only to be caught by Xie Jinxing before falling.
Gu An’an: “…”
Everyone: “…”
The polite, smiling “gentleman” façade on Xie Jinxing’s face vanished.
His eyes darkened, expression cold enough to freeze the room.
He glanced at Su Ruan, just once, and the chill in his stare made her bones ache. She backed away instinctively.
“You’re late,” he said.
Gu An’an retorted, “I was sprinting like a track star, don’t push it.”
The temperature in the room dropped several degrees as the rational boss finally returned.
Assistant Li shivered. Then, realization hit him and his face twisted in horror. He looked from Gu An’an to the now utterly dim, lifeless Su Ruan and silently pieced together why the boss had insisted on giving her that side-room accommodation.
Could it be…ghosts?!
Please, no. Don’t destroy his faith in science!
Li coughed and asked the one question he knew would ground the boss again: “Boss, should we still buy these dresses?”
Gu An’an felt the lingering warmth on her wrist as he released her.
Xie Jinxing pressed his fingers to his brow, tired beyond belief.
The air was so heavy it drained the last of Gu An’an’s amusement.
Got it, the boss needed her.
So she shakily opened her calculator app, pointing to a few of the most famous dresses once worn by A-list actresses. “Uh, boss, ‘Starry Night’, 1.38 million, ‘Mist over Waves’ 2.3 million, ‘Pearl Dream’ 690,000, ‘Jiangnan Beauty’ 400,000… Still want them?”
If he bought them now, hell would freeze over.
He was a businessman, not a charity idiot. Even if he wanted to spend money, it’d be on something profitable, not a scam. And honestly, Su Ruan’s washboard figure couldn’t pull off half these gowns.
A cold glance at Assistant Li was all it took.
Li immediately smiled at the designer. “Sorry, Ms. Wu, could we have a word outside?”
The room fell silent again.
Gu An’an scratched her head, glancing at Su Ruan who was trembling faintly, eyes down, pale as paper. She looked terrified, like Gu An’an had murdered her family or something.
Gu An’an didn’t even bother to ask why.
Whatever. She’d never get a straight answer from that girl anyway.
She grabbed Xie Jinxing’s wrist.
Not noticing the shadow that flickered in his eyes, she rolled up his sleeve, checking his wrists.
Left hand, nothing. Right hand, nothing.
“Huh? Where’s your watch? No wonder the readings stopped showing up. Where did it go, Uncle?”
Xie Jinxing turned toward Secretary Yang.
The tall woman with the low, androgynous voice stepped up to Su Ruan. “Excuse me, Miss Su, have you finished looking at the watch?”
Su Ruan’s hands clenched in her pockets so tightly her nails went white. Her mind was a storm. Tears welled silently. It finally hit her, he really didn’t like her. The moment Gu An’an appeared, her “halo” shattered. He didn’t even bother to speak to her directly, just sent a secretary to retrieve his watch.
After a long pause, she finally pulled out the sleek sports watch, forcing a smile. “S-sorry, I’ve never seen something so high-tech before. I just wanted to take a look.”
Gu An’an said nothing. Secretary Yang took the watch and turned to hand it over, but the man beside her didn’t reach for it.
“Keep it,” Xie Jinxing said flatly.
Now that its function was known, it was useless anyway.
That one absurd hour had drained his patience. He hadn’t eaten all day, and if he didn’t control the damage now, the entire banquet would be a mess. Pointing toward a gown in the corner, he said tiredly, “Try that one. Stay close tonight. Don’t wander off.”
Gu An’an blinked. “Oh, okay.”
She turned to leave, but suddenly, a large hand gripped the back of her neck.
The gentle pressure made her jolt, shrinking like a kitten being picked up by the scruff. She looked up innocently. “Uncle?”
“What did you just record on your phone?”
Gu An’an: “!!!”
“Show me.”
“Let’s not do that…”
Of course he’d noticed. Even brain-fried, he was still sharp enough to spot her filming.
Before she could stop him, he took her phone, unlocked it effortlessly, found the video, watched it without expression and deleted it.
“Next time you dare record nonsense again, I’ll break your little paw.”
There went her year-end bonus.
She muttered under her breath, “Are you some kind of AI scanner? You saw me unlock it once and memorized the passcode? Unreal.”
Ignoring her, Xie Jinxing sat down on the sofa, expression unreadable.
“Go change.”
Gu An’an: “…”